$10m construction industy training hub opens

The NSW building and construction industry has received a boost, through the opening of a new $10 million state-of-the-art training hub.

The NSW Premier, Mike Baird, officially opened the centre last week and it is hoped that it will help meet the skills shortage being faced by the industry, deliver new job opportunities for young people (men, women and Indigenous apprentices) in the booming construction industry.

“This is a great day. The centre will provide a passport to a bright future in one of the nation’s booming growth industries for young people in our community,” Brian Seidler, executive director of Master Builders New South Wales, said.

“This new $10 million investment is our largest in 50 years and builds on Master Builders’ commitment to creating more building and construction industry jobs and providing opportunities to young people including aspiring female and Indigenous ‘tradies’,” he said.

“The innovative trade-training centre is state of the art and purpose built to be a one-stop-shop training hub providing high-quality training to young people, making them ‘job ready’ for careers in the building industry,” he said.

“The opening of the new centre comes at a perfect time as Master Builders’ National Survey of Building and Construction has recorded a sharp rise in builders’ intentions to put on more apprentices, with a third of respondents indicating they will give more opportunities to young people to learn a building trade in the next six months,” Seidler said.

“Master Builders’ education and training will give young people the skills they need to excel in an industry where the value of work done is forecast to top $50 billion 2014-2015 and continue to grow solidly over the next three years,” he said.

“Apprentices who complete their apprenticeship at Master Builders’ state-of-the-art facility will emerge ‘job ready’ for a career in the industry that is forecast to build 52,000 new dwellings at a value of $16.9 billion,” Seidler said.

“Data released by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) suggests that on current trends the steady decline in apprentice numbers since 2010 may have bottomed out,” he said.

“With this $10 billion facility, Master Builders is investing in jobs for our young people, the future workforce of the building industry and state’s future prosperity,” Seidler said.